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Overwhelmed by the task of reviving the grandeur and beauty of antiquity in the style of neo-classicism, the artist falls into deep reflection. Through the emphasis on certain areas, distortions of perspective and, not least, the spectacular plunge into the abyss at the right-hand edge, the drawing takes on the character of a nightmare. The work is one of the best-known pieces in the Kunsthaus Collection and one of the artist’s most popular. After his work fell into obscurity in the 19th century, it was only thanks to the combined efforts of museums, collectors and researchers that his tremendous importance to European art in the period around 1800 was duly recognized. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth the Kunsthaus staged the first comprehensive retrospective of his work. As home to 24 of his paintings and 650 drawings, the Kunsthaus houses the world’s most important collection of works by Fuseli.